SIR HOWARD Bernstein - the man behind Manchester's Commonwealth Games success - has been offered a é30,000 pay rise to ward off headhunters.

SIR HOWARD Bernstein - the man behind Manchester's Commonwealth Games success - has been offered a é30,000 pay rise to ward off headhunters.

A committee has agreed to a three-year wage hike for their chief executive.

The move will boost Sir Howard's salary by 20 per cent from é153,270 to é183,270 and make him one of the best-paid officers in local government.

The increase, proposed by a panel of senior officers, has been criticised by opposition councillors as excessive.Unions representing rank-and-file workers recently agreed rises of 2.95 per cent in 2005 and 2006.

The panel claim Sir Howard's salary needs to be boosted to secure his services at a crucial time.

Council sources admited the chief executive is "regularly approached" about top jobs by councils, quangos and other bodies across the country.

Lincolnshire county council was currently offering a package worth é220,000 a year for a chief executive.

Bradford council offered a wage of up to é200,000 for a similar post in 2003.

Lin Homer, chief executive of Birmingham council, earns é174,000 a year and David Henshaw, Sir Howard's equivalent in Liverpool, is reported to earn é190,000 a year.

Rises

The pay of council chief executives has been rising rapidly but is still far behind the private sector.

The M.E.N. revealed earlier this year that Geoff Muirhead, chief executive of Manchester Airport, received a salary of é342,000.

Marc Ramsbottom, finance spokesman for the Liberal Democrat opposition on the council, said: "We think Sir Howard's done a good job, but so have thousands of town hall staff, and they aren't getting é30,000 extra in addition to their regular rises."

Richard Leese, Labour leader of the council, said: "Even after three years, the chief executive would be getting less than the chief executive of Liberal Democrat-run Liverpool is getting now.

"The question is, are we serious about wanting to retain our chief executive over a period of time and is what is proposed reasonable? On that basis it is more than reasonable."

Sir Howard was knighted last year, largely for helping bring the Commonwealth Games to Manchester. He has also won praise for leading the regeneration of the city centre.

Sir Howard has played a crucial role in convincing the BBC to relocate 1,800 jobs to Manchester and in the negotiations over the future of the Metrolink "Big Bang".

He was appointed chief executive in October 1998 on a salary of é103,000.

Our newspapers include the flagship Manchester Evening News - Britain's largest circulating
regional daily with up to 130,485 copies - as well as 20 local weekly titles across Greater
Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire.

Free morning newspaper, The Metro, published every weekday, is also part of our portfolio,
delivering more than 200,000 readers in Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester Business Week is the region’s number one provider of business news andfeatures, targeting a bespoke business audience with 12,687 copies every Thursday.

Every month, M.E.N. Media’s print products reach 2.2 million adults, spanning from Accrington
in the north to Macclesfield in the south.